Community Service Seal

In order to graduate from high school, all students must earn at least 2 seals. One of the seal options is the Community Service Seal. 

We know that there are a large number of students who are dedicated to serving others in the school and throughout the community and so we wanted to make sure you know that you can earn the Community Service Seal if you complete and document 40 hours of community service while in high school.

Your service hours do not have to be completed at the same place or over a particular amount of time - if you earn 40 hours in your 9th grade year, you earn the seal. If you didn't complete any service hours until your senior year, but then do 40 hours all in your senior year, you earn the seal. The key is keeping track of your hours using the district's designated community service tracking form. (For future reference, you can also find this form on the Counselor Website.)

Sharing your time, energy, talents and passions with others through volunteer service makes a huge difference in our school and in our community and we believe it also makes a difference in YOUR life too. Earning the seal for graduation is just one more perk to the good that you are doing through your community service outreach.

Career Podcast

It's always fun when we come across a new resource that can be useful to students. Obviously, we spend a lot of time talking with students about different careers. We try to help students have exposure to careers that they might not have previously considered through partnerships with the Delaware Area Career Center, the Pathways and Possibilities Day career professionals who come to school, and the field trips that we take.

But that is only a VERY small snapshot of all of the different careers that are out there. If you are interested in learning more about what people do all day at work in their jobs, then the "What it's like to be..." podcast could be enjoyable for you to check out. The podcast is available on Apple, Spotify, etc and it opens doors to careers you might not have thought much about previously. For example, Lineman, Forensic Accountant, Dog Groomer, Brain Surgeon, Marine Biologist, Hospice Nurse and so many more.

Within the podcast they interview people who love their work and discuss things like what's fun or what's stressful in the job. They also discuss who thrives in the job and share fun stories about the real life ins and outs of the careers.

If you're interested in learning more about careers, this could be a podcast you'll enjoy.

CSS Profile

We wanted to be sure to remind you that you need to look at your desired colleges closely to see what their financial aid requirements include.

At some of the more competitive colleges - particularly those who cover all of demonstrated need for students, in addition to requiring the FAFSA, many of those colleges will also require that students and families will submit the CSS profile. The FAFSA helps colleges determine federal aid, but the CSS profile helps colleges determine institutional aid. The CSS profile typically asks for a lot more detailed information from families than the FAFSA does. And while the FAFSA is free to complete, there are fees associated with the CSS profile.

Usually this is a topic students figure out as they are going through the whole financial aid application process and the CSS profile is just another step in that process, but you don't want to miss if your intended colleges are requiring the CSS profile and to watch your deadlines closely so that you don't miss them along with the FAFSA.

As always, feel free to stop and see your counselor if you have any questions about the CSS profile requirements.

Transcript Request Reminder

Seniors, as you are working on your college applications there are forms you will need to have submitted by the counselors. We need to remind you that you need to submit the forms to us as soon as possible, but at least 1 week ahead of the deadline.

There are 2 pieces you will need to submit if you are applying via Common App.

1. The Common Application Counselor Form. This is in the Recommenders and FERPA section of the application. You will fill out the form and invite your counselor. Be sure to spell your counselor's name and email address accurately.
2. The Transcript Request Form. This is found on the Counselor Website. When you go to www.wkhscounselors.com go down near the bottom to the "Find it Fast" area and select the transcript request option. You will need to fill out the transcript request form for each of the colleges where you are going to apply so that we have the authorization to send your transcript to each of the colleges where you are applying.

If you have questions or need help finding the forms, please come see us and we will help you with it.

We want to emphasize the importance of making sure that you request those forms a week in advance. This is always important to make sure that we get all of the forms processed in a timely manner, but it is even more important this year because November 1st falls on a weekend. So we need to have time so that we can make sure that we have processed everything before your application deadlines

AP Exam Registration

By now, all students enrolled in an AP class should have “joined” the AP course online to be able to access resources from the CollegeBoard throughout the year. You will need your CollegeBoard account information to login and join the AP classes you are taking. (If you have taken the PSAT, SAT, or AP Exams in the past then you already have a CollegeBoard Account.)

If you have a CollegeBoard account, it is important to use that account (and not to create a new one) as your scores from previous CollegeBoard assessments (PSAT, SAT, AP exams) are linked to your account. If you already have established a CollegeBoard account, please visit myap.collegeboard.org and make certain that you can log in. If you have forgotten your password, you may call 1-888-225-5427 or email apstudents@info.collegeboard.org for assistance.

If you have not already established a CollegeBoard student account, please sign up by going to myap.collegeboard.org. Make sure you write down and save your log-in information for future reference. Remember, when you are setting up your CollegeBoard account, you do NOT want to use your school email account as your wscloud account.

If you have questions, about establishing your account or linking it to the AP resources, please contact College Board at 1-888-225-5427 or email apstudents@info.collegeboard.org.

In addition to joining the class through CollegeBoard, students who are planning to take the AP test will need to sign up and pay for the test through the MyPaymentsPlus system. The cost of the test is $100 if students register prior to October 30th. After October 30th there is a $40 late fee up through February 22nd. There are no options for ordering tests after the February 22nd late registration deadline. Please also note that for students who qualify for free/ reduced lunch, you still need to register through the MyPaymentsPlus system, but it will automatically show your fee as $0 instead of $100.

AP Exams will take place at WKHS from May 3-14, 2027.

Please don't miss the chance to register as a way to help earn free college credit!

College Data

When students are searching for a college, digging into data isn't always high on the list of things to do. It is much more fun to explore the campus and meet with a professor and decide that this is "THE" school for you. And yet the data has a valuable story to share as well.

What do I mean?

Think about Retention Data. Information regarding retention rates means how many students who start at the college on the first day of their freshman year come back the following year. This is important to know because it gives you an idea of how happy and successful students are on the campus. Students that get accepted and go only to find that they are completely over their heads at the school might not have built the study and organization skills needed to be successful and so they might not return for the next year. Or students may attend thinking every day would be fun and forget that there is a lot of work involved with college too and so they might elect not to return to school because they didn't enjoy it as much as they had hoped. Sometimes it is because the college is not a good fit for them after all. And so if you notice that a college has a low retention rate it doesn't mean you won't like the school, but it may be a reason to pause and really look in depth to make sure you are going to be happy and successful at the college.

Another critical piece of data is how long it will take you to graduate. Most of the WKHS graduating students anticipate that they will be in college for 4 years. And that would be great. But that doesn't always work out for students in the long run. This can be due to a range of factors including how easy or difficult it is to get the necessary classes for graduation.

The https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/ website provides user friendly tools to search for colleges and explore their data.

Cap & Gown Orders

Seniors, don't forget, the deadline to order your cap and gown at the discounted rate is October 31st.

You will go to Buckeye Scholastic's website in order to place your order.

Buckeye Scholastic has a ton of options that students can select of various specialty items such as announcements and frames. We have had many students ask what is REQUIRED to be ordered - that would be the Cap, Gown, Tassel and Stole package. (No keepsake tassel required.) So the total cost for that package is $42.95.

If you have a cap and gown that a sibling wore in the last few years that is the right size for you to wear, that is totally fine! All you need to do is order the package that is the graduation tassel and stole.

It's so wild that it's time to be taking care of all of these official graduation related tasks!